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November 20, 2001, Tuesday 3 STAR EDITION
Arab-American again ready to fight against 'own kind'
JOHN W. GONZALEZ
Arab-Americans have been the victims of suspected hate crimes since Sept. 11, and though he wasn't a target, Jamal Baadani was wounded by the anti-Arab hostilities.
Baadani is a U.S. Marine Corps reservist who twice served in combat in the Middle East, and he is ready to do so again, even if it means doing battle with his "own kind." As he awaited another call-up last week, the Egyptian-born Muslim proudly proclaimed his American patriotism and the contributions of several generations of Arab-Americans to the U.S. military.
"My past combat experience has been in the Middle East, so I've fought against my own kind for this country. That carries a lot more weight to it than an average American fighting against an Arab race," said Baadani, 36, of Santa Monica, Calif. He said he is one of about 4,000 Arab-Americans among the nation's 1.4 million troops. The nation's Arab-American population is pegged at from 2.5 million to 3 million and growing quickly.
As a result of the Sept. 11 terrorism and the backlash against Arab-Am-ericans, Baadani launched the Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in the Military.
His goal is to provide support for Arab-Americans in the service and to trumpet their achievements at a time when anti-Arab sentiments are strong.
Baadani, who cheered for the demise of Israel and the United States as an Egyptian schoolboy, joined the Marines at age 17, soon after he immigrated to the United States. In 10 years of active duty and nine as a reservist, he saw combat in Lebanon and the Persian Gulf.
Yet he insists he has never been antagonized by fellow Marines about his heritage.
"The Marine Corps especially doesn't discriminate," he said. "We are all one. When they promote, they don't discriminate because of your race. That's why I've been in the Marine Corps for so long - because of that sense of belonging."
In civilian life, he works for a TV Webcaster, but in uniform he's a staff sergeant and Arab language specialist. Earlier this year, he was selected to represent the Marines at a treaty-signing event in Australia.
"Since my previous duty in combat has been in the Middle East and I am an Arab linguist, I've got a higher chance of being called up," he said. Meanwhile, he has become an unofficial voice for Arab-American troops who want to distance themselves from the Arabs blamed for the attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
"I grieve just as much as everybody else that's American," he said. He also knows that Arab-Americans have been harassed - some killed or injured - in a post-attack rash of anti-Arab hate crimes.
In the days after Sept. 11, "we were protecting ourselves and trying to prove that we're American," Baadani said.
"That is probably the crux of being Middle Eastern and serving in the military. You just want to yell out so the whole country can hear you: 'Hey, look at me! I'm serving this country. I've served it in combat to protect all of our freedom. But why are you doing a double standard? Why are you segregating our community?' "
Still, hateful and insensitive acts toward Arab-Americans in the military have been minimal, said Jean AbiNader, managing director of the Arab American Institute in Washington, D.C.
"In any kind of fraternal situation, there's always some ribbing and teasing that goes on. All we've heard about is incidents like that," he said.
"The (Arab-American) people in the military are parts of organized units. People know them. They've been through training with them. Their religion or their nationality doesn't come as news to the others," AbiNader said.
In the civilian world, post-Sept. 11 complaints about ethnic slurs and hate crimes directed at Arab-Americans began declining by late October, but AbiNader said they surged recently during the debate over whether U.S. bombing of Afghanistan should be suspended during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Even though the bombing continues, many Muslims in the U.S. military will have a chance to observe the holiday. On Nov. 30, the Pentagon, which has weekly Friday prayer sessions for Muslims, will have its fifth annual Iftar dinner to mark the end of Ramadan fasting. Similar events will be staged at military installations around the globe.
Monday night, President Bush invited ambassadors from 53 Muslim nations to break their daily Ramadan fast with dinner at the White House.
Even with new accommodations for their religious faith, Muslim troops are seeking other policy changes to allow them to more freely exercise their beliefs, said Qaseem Ali Uqdah, director of the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council of Arlington, Va.
"Military policy is not in line with today's needs," Uqdah said. "A Christian soldier can go to church. A Muslim soldier can go to prayer services, but the way current policy is written, he may be asked to make up that time he was away from work. So that's not fair."
The former Marine gunnery sergeant, retired after 21 years in the service, estimates there are 10,000 to 15,000 Muslims in the armed forces, most of whom are African-American, have no Arab blood and are reluctant to officially disclose their religion.
"These kids are afraid. They're worried about returning home to their families. They're angry at what happened September 11. They're somewhat isolated. And they just want to get this all over with," Uqdah said.
Although Arab-Americans have served in the U.S. military for at least a century, the religious accommodations for Muslims have come mainly in recent years.
When Uqdah entered the service, he had to barter away canned meals containing pork, whose consumption is forbidden in his faith. Now, there are rations that comply with Muslim dietary rules. And as recently as 1996, a female Muslim was honorably discharged from the Army after insisting on wearing a prayer scarf while on duty, which is now permitted in some circumstances.
Still, there are occasional lapses in sensitivity to Muslim beliefs, such as when weapons handlers on the USS Enterprise recently marked bombs with the words "pork-chop flavor."
Awareness of Muslim troops' special concerns expanded in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. By 1993, when officials estimated there were 3,000 Muslims in uniform, the U.S. Army Reserves commissioned the first Islamic chaplain in the U.S. Armed Forces. Seventeen chaplains now wear the silver crescent-moon insignia.